The Drexel golf team fi nished in second place at the Cornell Invitational with a total score of 900 over three rounds. Sophomore Christopher Crawford, second from right, shot three under par to win the individual title.Sophomore golfer Christopher Crawford ran away from the field at the Cornell Invitational, earning a first-place individual victory and propelling Drexel to a second-place finish. The invitational, which was hosted by Cornell University at Robert Trent Jones Golf Course, consisted of three rounds in total with two scheduled rounds Sept. 21 and the final round Sept. 22.

However, a cold and windy afternoon in Ithaca, N.Y., led to a stoppage of play during the second round of the tournament. But that didn’t seem to slow down the determined Crawford, who carded a 71 in his first round and continued his strong play in spite of of the weather, improving upon his score with a 70 in the second round and 69 in the final round.

“The weather was an obvious challenge, but the greens were very challenging as well; they were slick and undulating,” head coach Mike Dynda said.

Crawford shot three under par for the tournament, six shots clear of Dartmouth College’s Jeffrey Lang and eight shots better than Binghamton University’s Bryce Edmister, who finished in second and third place, respectively.

For his performance, Crawford was named Drexel’s Colonial Marble & Granite Athlete of the Week and the Colonial Athletic Association co-Men’s Golfer of the Week.

Another notable finish came from senior Vincent Anagnos, who placed second among his teammates with a final score of 225, highlighted by a 72 in the first round. At the time, his score put him tied for 15th out of 77 golfers.

As for the rest of the Blue and Gold, freshman Yoseph Dance finished 33rd in his second appearance as a Dragon. Sophomore Alex Kane finished in 42nd place, and redshirt freshman Scott Forrester placed 60th.

“It was nice to see Scott Forrester have a nice second-round score of 76,” Dynda said of the up-and-coming player.

The team as a whole carded a 302 in the first round, a 299 in the second round and a 299 in the final round to finish just behind the tournament-winning Towson University Tigers. Towson won the team event with a three-round total of 895, five shots clear of Drexel and seven better than Cornell. The defending champion Binghamton Bearcats finished in fifth place overall.

It’s important to note that the majority of the top finishers for the Dragons were underclassmen. This is a young squad that seems to be headed in the right direction.

Dynda said this about his team: “Our goal every fall is to find out what we have in the lineup. Striving to improve every round and every tournament is a goal, with the ultimate goal of peaking at the CAA Championships.”

The Dragons will return to action Oct. 6-8 when they head to Raleigh, N.C., to compete in the Wolfpack Intercollegiate, which will be held at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course. It will be interesting to see how Crawford’s successful performance this past weekend will influence the rest of his teammates in the upcoming weeks.